The Panthers announced a couple of roster moves on Tuesday.
They have waived defensive back Trevian Thomas off of their 53-man roster and they released offensive lineman Darrian Dalencourt from the practice squad.
Thomas, who joined the team as an undrafted free agent, was signed off of the practice squad a couple of weeks ago. He appeared in Carolina’s Week 5 win over the Dolphins and recorded one tackle.
With Thomas off the roster, the Panthers have an open spot to fill. They could activate wide receiver Jalen Coker, who returned to practice last week, and they are also expected to open offensive lineman Austin Corbett’s practice window this week.
Jets head coach Aaron Glenn said at a Monday press conference that he will have an update on wide receiver Garrett Wilson’s knee injury on Wednesday, but a report about the wideout has shed some light on the severity of the injury.
Rich Cimini of ESPN.com reports that an MRI showed that Wilson appeared to avoid a major knee injury. Wilson could still miss some time as a result of the injury, which he suffered in Sunday’s 13-11 loss to the Broncos in London.
Wilson has 36 catches for 395 yards and four touchdowns this season.
The Jets host the Panthers in Week 7 and they visit the Bengals in Week 8 before their Week 9 bye. Missing Wilson for those games would hurt their chances of winning for the first time this season, but the longer view might make it the wisest path to take.
After Sunday’s loss to the Broncos, during which the Jets offense gave new meaning to the term “offensive,” coach Aaron Glenn bristled at a question regarding whether he’d bench starting quarterback Justin Fields.
By Monday morning, Glenn had a more measured response, after reflecting on the question that was asked about whether Fields should sit.
“When you look at what Justin did, the games that he played,” Glenn told reporters. “Listen, I didn’t think he was bad at all. I actually thought he did some pretty good things in those four games. In this fifth game, he took a step back. I’m with you guys 100 percent. And we can’t have that. And we have to get better than that. And he knows that. Ann he knows that better than anyone. So I don’t think you try to bench a player after having one true bad game. Because I thought the other games he played fairly well.”
This opens the door to potentially benching Fields if he has another bad game.
And Sunday’s game was bad. Minus-10 net passing yards, fueled by nine sacks. Fields repeatedly held the ball for too long.
The Jets host the suddenly-hot Panthers on Sunday before playing the Bengals in Cincinnati. Then comes the bye. It’s on Fields to turn it around soon, or Tyrod Taylor will likely be getting a chance to help the Jets turn yet another bad season around — and to perhaps keep Glenn from being one and done as the team’s head coach.
The Cowboys offense has been one of the highest-scoring units in the league through the first six weeks of the season, but their defense has given a lot of those points back during a 2-3-1 start.
On Sunday, the Panthers were able to force a Cowboys punt in the fourth quarter with the score tied 27-27 and more than six minutes left on the clock. Their offense ate up that remaining time while driving for a game-winning field goal, so the quick reaction would be to point the finger at the defense for its inability to get off the field.
Quarterback Dak Prescott’s view was different, however. He said the offense can’t afford a failed possession “at a crucial point like that” and that their inability to put points on the board before punting makes it impossible to blame only the defense for not stopping the Panthers.
“If we don’t score, last thing I’m going is being frustrated at the defense,” Prescott said, via the team’s website. “That’s my problem, somebody on offense, or something that we didn’t do better.”
Per ESPN, Prescott is the first quarterback in history with 11 passing or rushing touchdowns and no interceptions over a three-game span whose team did not have a winning record over that span. The offense hasn’t been perfect in those three games, but those numbers paint a picture that gets them awfully close even before you take into account the players that are missing due to injury.
If the Cowboys can’t win while getting performances like that, frustration with the defense would be easy to understand even if Prescott isn’t willing to go that route.
Fresh off his 234 scrimmage yards against the Dolphins last week, Rico Dowdle was already thinking about what he was going to do to his former team. He told reporters postgame that the Cowboys better “buckle up.”
Cowboys players and coach Brian Schottenheimer made it obvious they got a kick out of Dowdle’s warning. Owner Jerry Jones mocked Dowdle in his pregame radio interview on Sunday.
Dowdle wasn’t joking.
He had a team-record 239 scrimmage yards against the team that decided not to re-sign him after a 1,000-yard rushing season in 2024.
“They wasn’t buckled up,’' Dowdle deadpanned, via David Newton of ESPN.
The Cowboys and Dolphins turned Dowdle into Marshall Faulk.
He became only the seventh player in NFL history to have at least 230 scrimmage yards in consecutive games, and his 473 scrimmage yards the past two games set a team record. Christian McCaffrey held the previous record at 416 scrimmage yards.
The Cowboys remade their running backs room in the offseason after scoring only six rushing touchdowns and ranking 27th in rushing yards. They signed Javonte Williams to replace Dowdle as the starting running back.
He admitted he took it “a little personal” after the Cowboys didn’t meet his financial demands.
The Panthers signed him to pair with Chuba Hubbard and now have a decision on how to use the two backs when Hubbard gets back from his calf injury. Hubbard has missed the past two games.
Dowdle won NFC offensive player of the week honors last week while starting for Hubbard. He’s a candidate to win it again this week.
“He told us to buckle up,’' quarterback Dak Prescott said. “He got the last laugh.’'
